Story highlights
- Ferguson City Council and the DOJ have jointly filed a consent decree on reforms
- It follows months of negotiations aimed at an overhaul of police and court systems
(CNN)The U.S. Justice Department and Ferguson have jointly filed a court-enforceable agreement to overhaul the Missouri city's troubled police force and municipal court system.
"The American people must be able to trust that their courts and law enforcement will uphold, protect, and defend their constitutional rights," said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.
"The filing of this agreement marks the beginning of a process that the citizens of Ferguson have long awaited -- the process of ensuring that they receive the rights and protections guaranteed to every American under the law."
National conversation
The national spotlight on Ferguson began after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in August 2014. Brown, who was unarmed, was black, and Wilson is white.
Brown's death prompted days of protests and riots in Ferguson, and a national conversation on the role of race in police interactions with citizens.
Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter started with a hashtag. Now it is a rallying cry, a cause and a movement in the wake of the deaths of black men at the hands of police. The latest police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile have spurred a new round of protests across the country and worldwide.
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Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
Some organizers say the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 is where the movement began. Demonstrators wore hoodies and carried Skittles, the candy Martin had bought on the night he was killed.
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Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
The shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown in August 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, by an officer lit an existing fuse and protests engulfed the town.
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Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
By the time Eric Garner died after being placed in a chokehold by a New York Police Department officer, support for Black Lives Matter had grown nationwide.
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Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
Protests and clashes with police after the officer wasn't indicted in the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson led to another round of protests, with the rallying cry "No justice, no peace."
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Photos: Evolution of Black Lives Matter
Demands for change led to organized protests in major cities, including New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Oakland, California, in December 2014.
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